WildfireRisk/PSPS & Equity Glance

This document was prepared for a briefing to Dr. Angell on analyzing the equity implications of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in California.

In Lieu of data on the actual locations and times of Californians affected by PSPS - which are expecting from PG&E soon, we examined the overlay of (CalFIRE’s Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ)](https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/divisions/wildfire-prevention-planning-engineering/wildland-hazards-building-codes/fire-hazard-severity-zones-maps/) with two (2) statewide datasets describing health equity:

• CDPH’s Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators (CCHVIs): This set of indicators describe several population characteristics that affect people’s sensitivity to climate-related hazards (age, income, occupation, disability, etc.). They are available at the census tract level, and in some cases can be described by race.
• California Healthy Places Index (HPI): This statewide index is created by weighting 7 policy area scores (economic, social, education, transportation, neighborhood, housing, pollution, healthcare) which are weighted based on association with life expectancy at birth and combined into a single metric.

The CalFIRE data is a decent proxy for areas potentially affected by PSPS. The state identifies Moderate, High, and Very High risk areas of both state and local responsibility (can be explored in map below). There are other datasets of wildfire risk that we could explore that may include areas of federal responsibility.

By combining the Fire Hazard zones with the health equity data, we can begin to see how populations living in these different areas compare. For example, using the HPI, we can compare the average Index score (and components) for tracts in the different Fire Risk Severty Zones. The actual scores are not very meningful, but we can see that we see increase HPI Scores for tracts in the highest FRSZs.

A couple of the indicators in the CCHVIs may be more illustrative of the concentration of vulnerability in the highest fire risk areas. For example, the number of elderly individuals (over 65) that live in Very High Risk FHSZs is greater than the number in Moderate and High FHSZs combined, and the majority are white.